Something I've wondered for awhile: how do you know a silver round or bar you buy from some mint you may not have ever heard of (or even know who produced the silver) is legit 99.9% pure silver? Do you really know other than just taking the bullion dealer's word for it? What are the chances its really 90% pure, or 80%, or not even silver at all?
It is easy enough to check such things with a spectrometer... But you have to think. A private firm that puts a hundred or a thousand silver rounds out to market isn't turning a huge profit to begin with. Why would they want to suffer the legal ramifications of misrepresenting what the bar is?
